They say the additional soldiers and vehicles will serve as a “show of presence” to “discourage” Russia from entering the eastern areas of Syria where US forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces illegally operate. US troops have had multiple encounters with the Syrian government and Russia inside Syria throughout the year. Some of the more serious confrontations occurred last month.
US commanders blame the encounters on Moscow and Damascus, but while the US maintains its presence in the country against the will of the Syrian government, confrontations are bound to happen. These new US occupying forces will only make the situation worse than it already is.
Indeed, the US is taking this route given the success of the Syrian and allied Russian campaign in general and in particular in light of souring US-Turkish relations, the possibility of the US losing access to the Turkish Incirlik base, and the dire situation of US-backed terrorist groups after their defeat by the Syrian government forces and its allies.
Mainstream media outlets present the additional US occupying forces as a “warning for Russia and Syria” or a “defensive threat”, but they have failed to distinguish the de facto meaning of this new development. Nor have they included that the US military’s official presence in Syria is in stark violation of international law, constituting an illegal occupation of parts of a sovereign country.
It has long been assessed that the reason behind US simultaneous backing of ISIS and the Kurdish forces is for the purpose of using ISIS as an excuse and threat to be defeated, only to then carve out a US occupation zone and set up military bases under the pretext of forming an independent Kurdish state.
Under international law, the US does not have the right to divide, separate, occupy, or carve out a section of Syria regardless of what the US occupying army claims to justify its presence and meddling. Moreover, under the present Syrian Constitution, Kurds are represented both in the government in Damascus and have a semi-autonomous status within the central Syrian state.
The brazen and illegal deployment of additional troops by the US poses the real possibility of creating a direct confrontation between Syrian and Russian forces on the one hand, and the US military and their Kurdish outfits on the other. This deliberate increase in troop numbers would deal a major blow to hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the Syrian crisis.
The new development marks a turning point in the Syrian conflict. If before there had been any ambiguity about the US intentions in Syria – a plan to divide Syria which had been publicly elaborated at the White House – then now the US has revealed its hand. This is a historic and dangerous development which only increases the chances of a new war, for which the US would be totally held responsible.
The US has invaded Syria and is occupying nearly 1/3 of its territory, has also announced plans for an indefinite occupation, and is plundering the country’s oil. The US has no authorization under international or even US law to invade and occupy Syria, much less attack Syrian forces, which it has done repeatedly. Nor has it a legal warrant to create new administrative and governance structures in the country to replace the Syrian government, a project it is undertaking through a parallel invasion of US diplomatic personnel.
These actions amount to a project of recolonization by an empire bent on extending its supremacy to the whole world, including the remaining outposts of resistance to foreign tyranny. Moreover, US actions represent an escalation of Washington’s long war on Syria, previously carried out through proxies, including ISIS and Al Qaeda, into a full-scale conventional war with direct US military involvement.
The enormity of the project, the escalation of the war, and the US occupation of Syria has largely flown under the radar of public awareness. It’s a wake-up call to the UN and the world community to stand up and take proper actions to make sure no one but the Syrian government and people are the ones that would determine their own fate.
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